Skipper Ankit Kumar led from the front with a fantastic century as Haryana enjoyed the upper hand against defending champions Mumbai, reaching 263 for five at stumps on the second day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final here. Ankit, who has now hit back-to-back hundreds in this edition of the tournament, struck a crisp 136 with complete domination of the Mumbai attack to bring Haryana within 53 runs of first-innings lead. This was after Tanush Kotian (97) missed his century as Mumbai finished their first innings at 315, a massive improvement after struggling at 113 for seven.
Starting the day at 278 for eight, all eyes were on Kotian, who was slowly but surely inching towards his third first-class hundred and one that he could have been proud of. However, at 97, Sumit Kumar left him high and dry with a wicket-taking delivery.
But Mohit Avasthi (21) threw his bat in the company of Royston Dias to ensure that Mumbai had the psychological boost of a 300-plus first innings total.
However, Mumbai, having batted the first 45 minutes, also ensured that by the time Haryana came on to bat, there wasn’t much help for the seamers, as Ankit and his opening partner Lakshay Dalal (34) comfortably put on 87 runs in 24 overs before Shardul Thakur finally got one to straighten enough in the post-lunch session to hit the latter’s pads.
But that didn’t deter the Haryana skipper from punishing the bowlers and he was especially severe on the seamers as 16 off his 21 boundaries came off them. He didn’t over attack but punished the loose deliveries with drives on both sides of the wicket. Avasthi and Dias, bowlers who clock mid 120s on the speed gun, were given some rough treatment.
Such was his dominance that the next best score for Haryana on the day was Yashvardhan Dalal’s 36, as he added 81 for the second wicket with his skipper.
The only bowler that Ankit treated with respect was left-arm spinner Shams Mulani (2/59), off whom he got only a couple of fours. In fact, it was Mulani, who gave Mumbai some breathing space at the fag end of the day by removing Ankit, caught by skipper Ajinkya Rahane.
Save Mulani and his spin twin Kotian (2/57 in 15 overs), the seamers looked ordinary for the better part of the day but on the third morning, they will get a chance to use the early moisture and ensure a slender first-innings lead.
In case they can’t restrict Haryana below 315, the objective would be to keep the lead to as less as possible since this is a five-day game, and Mumbai will have a chance to bowl last on a track that would assist spinners on days four and five.
Pacer Aditya Thakare’s four-wicket burst had Tamil Nadu hanging on the ropes at 159 for six after the second day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match here on Sunday. Tamil Nadu have a long batting line-up but none of their top order batters showed gumption to fight out on a rather tricky surface.
The promising 18-year-old C Andre Siddharth, nephew of former Tamil Nadu batter Sridharan Sharath, played a lone hand with an impressive 65 off 89 balls (10×4, 2×6) but he did not have any support from the other end.
It was a major reason behind Tamil Nadu still trailing by a considerable 194 runs after allowing Vidarbha to post 353 in their first innings.
TN’s batting, much against what they did in the league stages, was in shambles this day as star batters like Narayan Jagadeesan (22), Vijay Shankar (22) and B Sai Sudharsan (7) all failed to chip in with anything substantial.
Sudharsan will be particularly disappointed as this was his first outing since playing against Australia A for India A in November, 2024.
Since then, the left-handed batter was recuperating from a sports hernia surgery that he underwent in London in December last year.
At one stage, TN were 38 for four but Shankar and Siddharth added 95 runs to give them some hope, but the former edged Thakare to stumper Akshay Wadkar.
Now, TN will hope that veterans Pradosh Ranjan Paul (18 batting) and skipper R Sai Kishore (6 batting) will bail them out on Day 3.
The Tamil Nadu batters can take a leaf out of the fight shown by Vidarbha batters, led by Karun Nair, who extended his overnight 100 to 122.
But the real star in their batting was Harsh Dubey (69, 132 balls, 9×4) who batted in the company of tail lenders to take Vidarbha, overnight 264 for six, to a 350-plus total.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai 1st Innings 315 in 88.2 overs (Tanush Kotian 97, Shams Mulani 91, Anhsul Kamboj 3/71, Sumit Kumar 3/81). Haryana 263/5 in 72 overs (Ankit Kumar 136, Shams Mulani 2/59, Tanush Kotian 2/57).
Vidarbha: 353 all out in 121.1 overs (Karun Nair 122, Harsh Dubey 69, Danish Malewar 79; Sonu Yadav 3/91, Vijay Shankar 3/75) vs Tamil Nadu: 159/6 in 46 overs (C Andre Siddharth 65; Aditya Thakare 4/18).
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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